deliver their tobacco into the Government stores at
certain fixed rates. The culture and demand thereupon decreased. In
1853, the duty on the exports of tobacco from this island amounted to
L8,386, and in 1836 to L9,514.

Ceylon now exports a considerable quantity of tobacco. The value of
that exported in 1844 was nearly L18,000: it went exclusively to
British colonies. The shipments since have been as follows:--

1848 L17,992 ----
1849 22,300 ----
1850 20,721 22,184 cwts.
1851 21,422 22,523 "
1852 20,531 21,955 "

About 96,000 piculs of cigars, of five different qualities, are
exported annually from Siam. A good deal of very fine tobacco is grown
in the Philippines, and the Manila cheroots are celebrated all over
the globe. The quantity of raw tobacco shipped from Manila in 1847 was
92,106 arrobas (each about a quarter of a cwt.); manufactured tobacco,
12,054 arrobas; and 1,933 cases of cigars. 5,220 boxes of cigars were
shipped from Manila in 1844. 73,439 millions of cigars were shipped in
1850, and 42,629 quintals of leaf tobacco.

The manufacture of cigars in Manila is a monopoly of the government,
and not only is this the case, but it is a monopoly of the closest
description, and any infringement of the assumed rights of the Spanish
Indian government is visited by the most severe penalties. Public
enterprise, however little of that commodity there now exists in the
Spanish character, is thus kept down; and this is not only detrimental
to the nation itself, but is also unjust towards those persons who are
the purchasers of the article, enhanced in price, as is always the
case, by monopoly. The cheroot, which now costs, free of duty, about
one halfpenny, could be rendered for half that sum, according to
well-authenticated opinions. To protect itself from illicit
manufacturers, or smuggling of any kind in connection with cigars, the
government is compelled to maintain an army of gendarmes, in order to
adopt the most stringent means which despotic states alone tolerate.
No person is, therefore, permitted to have even the tobacco leaf in
its raw state on his premises, and gendarmes pay, at stated intervals,
domiciliary visits to the habitations of the people, in search of any
contraband materials. There are several extensive manufactories of
cigars and cheroots belonging to the government in and near Manila.
Mr. Mac Micking, in his recent work on the Philippines, thus d